Buyers Agents and Setting up a Team

When working as a buyers agent in a short sale transaction, you will want to quiz the listing agent to see what their knowledge and experience is with short sale transactions. You will want to use caution if the agent is inexperienced or not confident. If there are multiple loans and/or mortgage insurance or other potential tie ups, the buyer would appreciate knowing that there will likely be a delay in approval. You can also use the transaction flow chart from session one to see where in the short sale process they are, if there had been an offer on the property.

Have you closed any Short Sales before?

Has the lien holder been notified of the intent to short sale?

Have you received any offers on the property?

Has the complete short sale package been sent to the lien holder AND have you confirmed receipt?

What communications, if any, have you had with the bank?

Have you (the seller) been assigned a Loss Mitigator?

Has there been a BPO? Did you meet the BPO agent? Did you get the results back?

Is there one or two loans? Any other liens?

What are the names of the banks? Are these FHA or VA loans?

Is there Mortgage Insurance?

How long do you estimate that the lender will take to provide an answer to an offer?

Buyers agents will want to follow up with the listing agent or processor once every one to two weeks to see where the file is.

Live by the 80/20 rule. 20% of what you do will yield 80% of your results. The goal must always be to replicate your service by delegating responsibilities, so you can do MORE of what makes the most money. The main thing that produces income for us as agents is getting listings. A good listing agent can take 15-20 or more listings per month.

First, Partner with a good title company/closing attorney. This typically will not cost any money. Your title company and/or closing attorney can prepare preliminary HUD’s, perform title searches, and pull association estoppel letters in advance for you.

Hiring an administrative person is typically the best first step once you accumulate a good listing inventory. Licensed is ideal. Its good to pay low salary plus % of closings. This will reduce your risk and also encourage treating your customers like you would. They are literally replicating your services. The biggest job of this person will be to work your short sale files, prepare advertising and marketing materials, and prepare BPO’s and listing packages.

Buyers Agents – A large inventory of short sale listings, marketed properly, will generate a steady flow of buyer leads. You will also want to delegate this responsibility to a qualified agent so you can focus more on listing properties. After an administrative hire, the next hire would typically be a buyers agent. Commission split will vary, but remember that while you can always lower the split, once you agree to something it is difficult to raise it in the future. An assistant can also help screen leads in advance for buyers agents, so they can focus more on what their job is.

BPO Agent – You can also designate an agent to specifically put together BPO’s for you, either just for short sale files, or also for asset managers for you as side work. You can also pay an individual a salary to do some of these services, however a license is likely required to do a complete evaluation. In order to start a side business doing BPO’s in bulk, you can also hire a photographer to drive around and photograph the properties, while you are in the office doing the “technical” work on the BPO’s.

Listing Coordinator and or closing coordinator – (2nd Assistant) this person can help prepare all listing packages, and assist with any marketing of the properties. Always get year long listing agreements!

When working as a listing agent, it is important to be compassionate to home owners who are concerned with the process and losing their home. It is our job to speak confidently about our own ability to complete short sale transactions in order to gain the trust of homeowners who are typically in a very difficult time in their lives. When asked any legal questions regarding foreclosure or the legal process, always remind sellers to seek appropriate legal counsel in all legal matters.

Upon completing this course, we are offering a $95 discount for the first year of membership as a Preferred Partner in The Short Sale Specialist Network. Even if you have never completed a short sale as a listing agent, we will give you a chance to work with motivated sellers in your area as a Preferred Partner.